RFK’s campaign to Make Measles Great Again goes from strength to strength, Trump gets sued by someone he tried to fire illegally and more wild things that happened in Trump World in the last 24 hours
Donald Trump hasn’t been seen in public since his marathon Cabinet Meeting on Tuesday. Perhaps he needed a lie down.
But that hasn’t stopped any of the chaos of his administration unfolding.
Much of the chaos today surrounds brain-wormed bear botherer RFK Jr, whose campaign to Make Measles Great Again goes from strength to strength.
In his latest triumph of croaky quackery over life-saving science, he’s ousted the director of the Centres for Disease Control, reportedly because she refused to sack government vaccine experts.
At the same time, Trump faces trouble of his own for someone else he’s trying to illegally fire – Federal Reserve board member Lisa Cook, who is now suing him in an unprecedented bid to keep her job.
Meanwhile in Trump World:
- RFK stares at kids in airports
- What was Tony Blair doing at the White House?
- Ed Davey sticks it to the man, respectfully
- A top CIA Russia official was abruptly fired
- Hannity defends guns after Minneapolis shooting
- And the DC Sandwich guy won’t face felony charges
Here’s all that and more, as we round up everything that happened in the last 24 hours that you need to know about.
READ MORE: Donald Trump state banquet boycott is no disrespect to the King says Ed DaveyREAD MORE: Tony Blair urged to explain secretive Donald Trump meeting at White House
1. Trump is getting sued for trying to fire fed board member
Earlier this week, Trump ordered the removal of Lisa Cook from the board of the Federal Reserve, in a move that sent chills up the spines of a lot of economists.
The Federal Reserve is like America’s Bank of England – it’s a body largely independent of the Executive Branch, which sets interest rates.
Economists like that it’s independent, because its job is to prevent things like banking collapses and financial crises – and it’s a pretty good idea to separate those kind of things from politics and keep them technical wherever possible.
While the President nominates people for the 12-member board, he doesn’t have the power to remove them before the end of their term. But Trump is trying to do it anyway.
Ms Cook has refused to step down, and today lawyers announced this afternoon that she has sued the Trump administration in an unprecedented bid to block them from firing her.
2. Revolt against ‘reckless’ RFK over sacking of CDC director
RFK Jr, who once beheaded a dead whale for fun, is under fire over the latest salvo in his war on America’s already pretty shaky health.
After installing anti-Vaxxers in key positions, sacking the entire US vaccine committee and defunding research into MRNA vaccine development, the Bear cub mutilator in chief booted out the top official at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The White House last night confirmed Susan Monarez, the director of the CDC had been fired because she wasn’t “aligned” with Donald Trump’s agenda.
Her lawyers hit back said she was standing up for science, and accusing Health Secretary RFK Jr of “silencing experts” and pushing for “the dangerous politicisation of science.”
“When CDC Director Dr Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted,” they wrote.
Dr Monarez’s departure coincided with the resignations this week of at least four top CDC officials.
One of them, respiratory illness and immunisation official Demetre Daskalakis, wrote a searing resigation letter, saying RFK’s policies “do not reflect scientific reality and are designed to hurt rather than to improve the public’s health.”
He accused RFK Jr, America’s most chaotic nephew since Huey, Dewey and Louie, of “the intentional eroding of trust in low-risk vaccines” and warned his policies would “result in death and disability of vulnerable children and adults.”
Meanwhile, more Senators are starting to think putting a man who admittedly lost a chunk of his brain to a parasitic worm might not have been the best man to put in charge of the Health department.
Washington Senator Patty Murray wrote on Twitter: “I had serious doubts about CDC Director Monarez’s willingness to stand up against RFK Jr.’s personal mission to destroy public health in America–I’m glad that I was wrong. If there are any adults left in the White House: we cannot let RFK Jr. burn what’s left of CDC. FIRE HIM.”
Senator Murray added: “RKF Jr. is a dangerous man who is determined to abuse his authority to act on truly terrifying conspiracy theories and disinformation-leaving us unprepared for the next deadly pandemic and snuffing out potential cures while he’s at it.”
3. Meanwhile, RFK keeps staring at kids in airports
RFK Jr, a former heroin addict who is not and has never been a medical professional, claims he can diagnose “mitochondrial challenges” just by looking at them, which he apparently does at airports.
He said: “I’m looking at kids as I walk through the airports today and see these kids that are just overburdened with mitochondrial challenges, inflammation. You can tell from their faces, movements, and lack of social connection”
In response, a deluge of actual medical professionals responded to point out that no, you cannot diagnose any of those things by sight. In fact, they take a “battery” of tests to diagnose.
4. Tony Blair urged to explain secretive meeting with Trump
Many were surprised to learn last night that Tony Blair had met with Trump and Jared Kushner last night, to discuss what happens after the war in Gaza.
But they shouldn’t have been. Blair and Kushner, the President’s son-in-law have been working on post-war plans together for a while.
It’s unclear how much Blair’s advice will overlap with Trump’s desire to turn Gaza into a Las Vegas-style waterfront resort.
But the Tony Blair Foundation have insisted previously that none of his conversations with Trump have involved discussion of forcibly removing Palestinians from their homes.
Nevertheless, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey has called on Blair to explain himself.
“Tony Blair needs to come before Parliament to give evidence about his discussions with the Trump administration about the ongoing war and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza,” he said.
“If he has special insight into Trump’s intentions, it’s only right that Parliament and the Government are made privy to this.”
5. Speaking of Ed Davey
I don’t get to write a lot about the Lib Dems in these roundups. But like a long-awaited bus, these things often arrive in twos.
Sir Ed last night announced that should he be invited to a state dinner during Trump’s visit to the UK later this month, he would decline.
Sir Ed said he and his wife Emily had “spent all summer thinking about this” and had “prayed about it”, before deciding it was “the one way” to send a message to both Mr Trump and Sir Keir Starmer.
He said: “There is no honour like an invitation from the King, and not to accept his invitation goes against all of our instincts.
“But I fear we could have a situation where Donald Trump comes to our country, is honoured with a lavish dinner at one of our finest palaces, yet no one reminds him that he has the power to stop the horrifying starvation and death in Gaza and get the hostages released.
“If Donald Trump tells Benjamin Netanyahu to stop this, it ends tomorrow. If Donald Trump uses his influence over Qatar and the other Gulf states that Hamas relies on, all the hostages could come home tomorrow.”
6. Top CIA Russia expert abruptly fired
The Washington Post today reports that one of the CIA’s top experts on Russia was abruptly fired days after Donald Trump’s half-baked Alaska summit with Vladimir Putin.
The officer was unexpectedly told her 29-year career was over during a brief meeting in the agency’s security office.
She’d spent weeks preparing Trump and his team for the Putin summit, and had been approved for a prestigious assignment in Europe and was expected to start imminently, the Post reported.
Instead, she was one of 37 current and former intelligence professionals to be stripped of their clearance to read classified documents, in what appeared to be a “revenge-driven loyalty purge.”
7. Hannity defends guns
Following the horrific events in Minneapolis yesterday, it was inevitable that right-wing blowhards would tie themselves in knots to come up with a solution to school shootings that didn’t involve gun control.
Fox News’ Sean Hannity was among the first out of the blocks – suggesting American children be forced to go through airport style security on the way to lessons.
“Here’s the saddest part,” he said, within hours of the deadly shooting taking place. “School shootings are preventable. You can mitigate these tragedies. If we have the desire to stop school shootings, this is what you should do.
“Every school in the country should have a metal detector. We have them at airports, you have them when you’re around elected politicians – by the way, they have armed guards around them. You have to control the entry of kids and the perimeter around every school.”
He then suggested retired military and law enforcement officers should be stationed in every school, armed, and volunteering in return for “tax incentives.”
He added: “The left’s rush to blame republicans, to blame guns for every tragedy, it’s sad and pathetic.”
It’s unclear to me, and to many people responding to Hannity online, how he thinks posting armed guards and putting up metal detectors in schools would have prevented a coward with multiple military-grade assault weapons who shot through the windows of a church.
8. DC residents rally round sandwich guy
In one of the most delightful stories of the week, federal prosecutors in Washington have failed to convince a Grand Jury to indict a man who allegedly threw a sandwich at a federal agent of felony assault.
Former DoJ Paralegal Sean C. Dunn is accused of throwing a Subway-style sandwich at a Customs and Border Protection officer, shouting “fascists” and “I don’t wan you in my city.”
Bizarrely, prosecutors decided to go for felony assault charges, which require a grand jury to approve the indictment before it can go to court. This almost always happens – it’s vanishingly rare for a grand jury to decline to bring charges.
The jury, made up of DC residents, apparently decided to send a message to the White House about the military invasion of their city – and said no thanks.
Prosecutors now have the option to pursue the case as a misdemeanour, which carries a much lower sentencing limit.